Table of Contents: June 2008

The PLoS Medicine editorial this month argues that there are currently few incentives to develop new treatments for maternal health, and that political will is needed to support alternative approaches to those driven by the market. The editorial cites an analysis published earlier this year in PLoS Medicine, which found that between 1980 and 2007 only 17 new drugs were under active development for maternal health indications—less than 3% of the pipeline in cardiovascular health (Fisk et al., e22).

The "Catch 22" of the lack of effective treatments for tropical diseases in pregnancy is examined in an essay in this issue (White et al., e133). Risk aversion, among other factors, has led to the exclusion of pregnant women from clinical trials. As such, the authors argue, we don't know enough about the suitability for pregnant women of even well-established drugs.